Best Pat Metheny Albums

**franco6719** · 10-11-2009, 04:13 AM

I have recently come to agree with the people who think that Pat's best material is basically from the younger years. Not that he is not still an outstanding musician and technically one of the absolute monsters, but I have gotten a little worn of that almost-inaudible "Darth Vader" tone and the one or two hypersonic arpeggios licks up and down the neck on every tune.

Anyway, in my humble opinion of course, but I now think that the truly best of Metheny is on the following CDS: Bright Size Life (despite, or perhaps BECAUSE, of that bit of twangyness), Rejoicing, Beneath the Midwestern Sky, Still Life (Talking), possibly Secret Story. Anyone is welcome to chime in.

**P.J.** · 10-11-2009, 05:58 AM

I always thought Offramp held up really well.

=-) PJ

**franco6719** · 10-11-2009, 06:06 AM

Originally Posted by P.J.

I always thought Offramp held up really well.

=-) PJ

Offramp is probably his best with the group. That's true.

**Jake Hanlon** · 10-11-2009, 12:33 PM

For me...

Bright Size Life, 80/81, Question and Answer, Rejoicing, The Way Up, Trio Live.

**Metal Fingers** · 10-11-2009, 01:02 PM

I still can't get into PMG stuff.I find it way too airy.I hate the voice stuff they do as well.I actually bought still life talking and got rid of it about a week later.I much prefer him when it's Pat Metheny with ... and as I've said before I dig the newer trio stuff.

...but I have heard the 1st PMG offering is the ONE to have. I'll have to give it a listen some day.

**derek** · 10-11-2009, 02:52 PM

I sure like the duo disc he did with Jim Hall also.

**Flat** · 10-11-2009, 05:16 PM

I also play acoustic flat-tops, so the albums that drew me in way back when were "New Chautauqua" and "80/81" with Michael Brecker, Charlie Haden, and Jack DeJohnette.

**tramber** · 10-12-2009, 02:44 AM

I like a lot of what he has done but Question & Answer is my all-time favorite Pat CD.

Doug -

**P.J.** · 10-12-2009, 04:56 AM

Originally Posted by Flat

I also play acoustic flat-tops, so the albums that drew me in way back when were "New Chautauqua" and "80/81" with Michael Brecker, Charlie Haden, and Jack DeJohnette.

They are both great!

=-) PJ

**joe pass jr** · 10-12-2009, 09:02 AM

If I had to pick.. I would say.. All of them! Actually, I have not heard everything. My Metheny collection is maybe 20 albums deep but they are all beautiful. Pat would be one of the few artists who has yet to release something I didn't like.

'Quartet' with Mehldau is up among the most played and definitely PMG-Travels would be a favourite.

**BigDaddyLoveHandles** · 10-12-2009, 11:45 AM

Pat's CD show a wide range of styles and interests. Some people just like the early, airy "ECM" sound. I like them all. Jim Hall is my favourite guitarist so I have to give a shout for the PM JH album. I even like Song X (with Ornette), which most people have issues with.

**Flat** · 10-12-2009, 12:17 PM

Any of you guys ever hear Pat's "Zero Tolerance for Silence"? Quite phenomenally unlistenable, imho. (My apologies to anyone who digs it.)

**BigDaddyLoveHandles** · 10-12-2009, 12:24 PM

Originally Posted by Flat

Any of you guys ever hear Pat's "Zero Tolerance for Silence"? Quite phenomenally unlistenable, imho. (My apologies to anyone who digs it.)

There are several stories about that album. One is that he was giving a parting one-finger salute to the record label.

**mr. beaumont** · 10-12-2009, 12:43 PM

i really like "day trip."

other faves would be "bright sized," and the first pat metheny group record (the one with "phase dance")

i like american garage a lot too, and trio 99->00

i'm not really an offramp fan...too much guitar synth for my tastes.

**Flat** · 10-12-2009, 12:46 PM

That's pretty much what I figured, BigDaddy. A record contract thing.

I've always loved Pat's playing, have most of his CDs, have seen him live a dozen times or more, even shook his hand once after he sat in at a Joe Diorio gig--but I wouldn't mind having my 12 bucks back for that particular CD.

Ray C. · 10-16-2009, 02:32 PM

Originally Posted by Flat

That's pretty much what I figured, BigDaddy. A record contract thing.

I've always loved Pat's playing, have most of his CDs, have seen him live a dozen times or more, even shook his hand once after he sat in at a Joe Diorio gig--but I wouldn't mind having my 12 bucks back for that particular CD.

That rumor was started by a journalist who was seriously not listening to the album. All it would have taken was a quick phone call [to me] to find out that that wasn't the case. Besides, I would never do something like that. It isn't the way I operate, which I think has been pretty self-evident over the years. That record speaks for itself in its own musical terms. To me, it is a 2-D view of a world in which I am usually functioning in a more 3-D way. It is entirely flat music, and that was exactly what it was intended to be

--Pat Metheny, 2008, in response to rumor that album was a shot at Geffen.

**sc06yl** · 10-17-2009, 11:55 AM

Day Trip, trio with Christian McBride and Antio Sanchez Is one of my favourites.

Shadows and Light was pretty cool, Metheny obviously a side man to Joni Mitchell. But the line up is incredible. I especially like the redition of Goodbye Pork Pie Hat.

**P.J.** · 10-18-2009, 06:46 AM

Originally Posted by sc06yl

Day Trip, trio with Christian McBride and Antio Sanchez Is one of my favourites.

Shadows and Light was pretty cool, Metheny obviously a side man to Joni Mitchell. But the line up is incredible. I especially like the redition of Goodbye Pork Pie Hat.

The video is great. You get Pat, Jaco and Michael Brecker in one band. Awesome stuff!!

=-) PJ

**cherokeebat** · 10-24-2009, 08:45 PM

I like most of them but the one with Charlie Haden (Beyond the Missouri Sky)

**newsense** · 11-07-2009, 07:49 AM

I'm surprised Day Trip only gets one mention. A similar vibe to Q&A, but I feel the tunes are better and the playing is phenomenal.

I find PM a bit of an enigma. I love his trio work, but often find the PMG stuff too MOR. As one of my friends put it: "sounds like an 80's porno movie sound track".

**evhan** · 11-07-2009, 12:16 PM

I'll be the differing voice here and say I like Metheny's recent stuff a bit more. With the exception of some beautiful compositions early on (Have You Heard? is one of my favorite melodies ever), I prefer his more recent recordings. Speaking of Now and The Way Up are both fantastic. I love Bona's vocals, and the large-group feel is a lot more interesting to me than (most) of his earlier / trio stuff... Though there's definitely some serious playing there.

**Metal Fingers** · 11-07-2009, 03:46 PM

Day trip is great.killer "the red one".I like it way better than the version on I can see your house from here.I don't even like ICSYHFH that much.Metheny tries to sound like Sco,and yes he succeeds.He can probably play like anyone but what's his point?Still has some great playing on it though,obviously.

**franco6719** · 11-08-2009, 05:07 AM

"Metheny tries to sound like Sco,and yes he succeeds..."

You're right. But I don't think he succeeds completely .That's exactly what I think whenever I listen to that CD. It is the same with his collaboration with Jim Hall. Why is he trying to sound and play like Scofield and Jim Hall? It's almost like an admission that these players are more interesting and original and he has to accomodate himself to their style because he is uncomfortable with his own playing. Strange.

**Vogelfrei** · 11-17-2009, 10:01 PM

I happen to like almost everything that Metheny has done, and find something worth listening to regardless of who he's playing with or when he made the recording. My favorite albums of his are probably, in no real order, Secret Story, The Way Up, Bright Size Life, Imaginary Day, and Metheny/Mehldau Quartet.

These albums pretty much all sound nothing alike, so I guess my preference for them has nothing to do with the overall sound. Rather, I think I like them because they each seem to represent something about him as a player: his gushing melodicism (Secret Story), rhythmic and formal complexity (The Way Up), wide-open sonorities (Bright Size Life), penchant for mystery (Imaginary Day), and wonderful improvisational fluency (Quartet).

I've never heard the suggestion that he's not comfortable with his own playing before, but I guess it is kind of a possibility. Metheny is sort of accepted by mainstream jazz now, but I feel like that wasn't always the case, and maybe that feeling of alienation is why he feels uncertain about just being himself on albums with guys like Sco and Jim Hall. I don't know. Or maybe he can't help but imitate, to a point, the sort of music that he's hearing at the time, which might explain why his playing varies so much on the different albums that he's cut with different people.

On that note, I don't think his playing varies all the time. A lot of the time I hear him do the same thing over completely different musical formats, which I guess is easy if you're blazing through a chromatic lick as it would work on just about anything.